After listening to Gov. John Kasich speak at the Republican National Convention in Tampa, it was Ted Strickland's turn in Charlotte last night. Like Governor Kasich in Tampa, Strickland also said things are getting better in the Buckeye state. But he offered different reasons than his Republican successor. In Charlotte, everyone knows Ohio could be a make-or-break state for the presidential election. So delegates cheered ecstatically when Ted Strickland told them Mr. Obamaâs investment in GM and Chrysler brought back thousands of Ohio manufacturing jobs.
Just last month, GM announced a plan to invest 200 million dollars in Lordstown, keeping 5,000 jobs in Ohio and building the next generation of the Chevy Cruze â a car we are proud to say is made entirely in Ohio.
Strickland has also been campaigning for the president this summer by going on the attack against Mitt Romney. âMitt Romney has so little economic patriotism that even his money needs a passport. It summers on the beaches of the Cayman Islands and winters on the slopes of the Swiss Alps," Strickland said to rounds of applause. The former Ohio governor is an Obama campaign co-chairman in Ohio. But so many Ohio delegates are wearing TED buttons that the 71-year-old may well be setting up his own next political race. As Strickland and other Ohio Democrats were gathering in Charlotte, Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan was campaigning in northeast Ohio. He told supporters at a breakfast in Westlake that "President Obama makes the Jimmy Carter years seem like good old days."